Long touchdown lifts Giants over Bills in HOF game

The Bills fell to the Giants, 17-13, in the NFL preseason opener for both squads.

Final Score: Giants 17 – Bills 13

Location: Fawcett Stadium, Canton, Ohio

Preseason records: Buffalo (0-1); New York Giants (1-0)

In a Nutshell:

Buffalo and New York took a 10-10 tie to the half. Dan Carpenter broke it with a 51-yard field goal late in the third quarter (13-10), but Ryan Nassib hit Corey Washington for a 73-yard touchdown early in the fourth to take the lead for good (17-13).

How it went down:

--The Bills offense opened the scoring with a field goal drive after Kyle Williams sacked Eli Manning and forced a fumble, which was recovered by Keith Rivers at the New York 22. Dan Carpenter put a 30-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead with nine minutes left in the opening quarter.

--The Giants first team offense responded with a 12-play 80-yard drive against the Bills second defensive unit. Rashad Jennings and Andre Williams combined for 62 of those yards on the ground on 10 carries including Williams’ three-yard touchdown run.

--Jeff Tuel helped Buffalo re-take the lead converting on a 4th-and-goal pass to Robert Woods at the two-yard line to cap a 15-play 80-yard march putting the Bills ahead 10-7 with nine minutes left in the half. Woods had three catches on the scoring drive for 23 yards. Tuel looked sharp going 12-17 passing for 74 yards with a touchdown and an INT off a tipped pass.

--New York tied it (10-10) on a 47-yard field goal by Brandon McManus with five minutes remaining in the half.

--Buffalo scored the only points of the third quarter as Dan Carpenter blasted a 51-yard attempt through the uprights with room the spare to make it 13-10 Bills.

--Ryan Nassib put the Giants ahead for good when he found rookie Corey Washington deep down the right sideline for a 73-yard scoring play to make it 17-13 New York with 13 minutes to play.

The half of it

--The Bills first team offense had a pair of drives before exiting for the night. They went five-and-out and had a six-play field goal drive in the opening quarter. EJ Manuel was 2-for-7 passing for 19 yards with two of his incompletions batted at the line of scrimmage.

--Buffalo averaged a respectable 4.4 yards per carry through the first two quarters thanks mainly to ‘Boobie’ Dixon’s 15 yards on three carries and Jeff Tuel’s read option keeper that went for 13 yards.

--The Bills first team defense looked fierce early. Though they were only in on the Giants’ first two possessions they sent New York three-and-out and five-and-out with a sack and forced fumble that Buffalo recovered. Total net yards gained by the Giants on the first two drives was 11.

--Buffalo looked like they were going to break the 10-10 tie late in the half after the Bills recovered a blocked punt at the Giants 38. Jeff Tuel’s pass intended for T.J. Graham went off of Graham’s hands and into the waiting arms of Giants safety Cooper Taylor with 10 seconds left in the half.

Subplots:

--Marcus Easley was a force on special teams last season and picked up where he left off with a blocked punt in the second quarter that got Buffalo possession at the New York 38 with just over a minute remaining.

--Buffalo went for it twice on fourth down in the game. The first on a 4th-and-goal at the two-yard line, which resulted in a touchdown. The second on a 4th-and-1 at the Giants’ 34 that Evan Rodriguez converted for a first down.

--Sammy Watkins and Mike Williams started at wideout as the offense began the game in a pro set. When they went three wide, Chris Hogan came on as the slot receiver. Robert Woods and T.J. Graham were next in with the second unit.

--It was Woods that led the receiving corps with four catches for 49 yards and the team’s only touchdown.

--DT Landon Cohen had a pair of sacks in the second half and a tackle for loss.

--Preston Brown had an interception wiped out by a personal foul penalty committed by Stefan Charles who was cited for roughing the quarterback.

Quotes from the locker room:

--“It’s always good to come out here and get your feet under you. You’re never ready to practice and play football until you come to a practice and you’re never ready to play in a game until you come out here and get your feet under you in a game. First preseason game for me is down and I’m looking forward to the next four and getting ready for September.” –DT Kyle Williams

--“It felt very good. Glad we’re back out here and it was pretty quick, but it felt good to be back out there.” –QB EJ Manuel

--“We were ok. Not where we want to be, but we did make some plays when we got some opportunities. It was up and down. We know it’s going to be like that being the first preseason game of the year, but a lot of stuff we can go in and correct on film.” –RB Fred Jackson